The Bob Jones University men's basketball team put a bow on the NCCAA South Region tournament with a 67-54 victory over rivals Pensacola Christian College to earn the region championship title. Saturday's South Region championship win marks the fourth region title in program history for the Bruins.
"We're ecstatic," said Head Coach Burton Uwarow. "We first want to give God the glory for giving us the ability to do the game that we love and have another chance to compete together. We want to stay together with this team as long as we can."
It was a heated rivalry between the #1 seeded Bruins and the #6 seeded Pensacola College Eagles as the two teams battled for their shot at taking home the NCCAA South Region Championship banner.
It was raining threes early in the contest. Camden Gearhart opened the scoring with a three pointer with the assist coming from Elijah Cupples. Cupples then sank one of his own followed by another shot outside the arc by Trevor Brunson to see the Bruins take the 9-3 lead three and a half minutes into the championship contest.
Kenney Garrick got the BJU crowd on their feet with a dunk before Hayes Brush dropped a three to extend the Bruins advantage.
With 12:39 left on the game clock, the Eagles sank a shot to cut the deficit to just two points. The Bruins defense held strong keeping the Eagles off the board through the next six minutes. As the clock hit 0:00, it was Bob Jones on top 32-23 going into the halftime break.
It was a physical battle at the start of the second half, and the first points for the Bruins came as made free throws by Kenney Garrick and Elijah Cupples. The Bruins found a double digit lead from a layup by Camden Gearhart with 12:47 on the clock.
At the 10 minute mark, Hayes Brush was fouled on his shot to get the and one. With his made layup and free throw shot, Brush surpassed the 1,000 career points mark to become the ninth player in program histroy to earn this achievement.
Despite the Eagles fighting to cut down the lead, the Bruins held strong battling until the final buzzer. Behind the bench, the sixth man comprised of Bruins family and friends helped cheer them on to victory.
Trevor Brunson hit two final free throws to put the nail in the coffin and secure the NCCAA South Region Championship victory for the Bruins with the 67-54 decision.
Following the game, Coach Uwarow said, "I think the difference in this game came from how many veterans we have who have been a championship game, being there before and not being rattled. I think it also helped that our game against Pensacola was here just a few weeks ago and it wasn't a distant memory."
He continued saying, "the other regions won't finish their tournaments until next weekend, so we're going to use this week to worry about us and getting our academics right and getting our health back. Missing a week for nationals is going to be tough, but it's the reward for all the hard work we have done."
The post-season continues for the Bruins as they have written their name on the bracket of the NCCAA National Tournament in Minneapolis, Minnesota March 14-16.
